


take your sleeping heart and let it breathe

by corvidity



Category: Gintama
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5814190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidity/pseuds/corvidity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinpachi wakes to another day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take your sleeping heart and let it breathe

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a poem by Hafiz. 
> 
> Awake, my dear.
> 
> Be kind  
> to your sleeping heart.
> 
> Take it out  
> into the vast fields  
> of Light
> 
> And let it  
> breathe.

Shinpachi is the first to rise in the Kodoukan dojo, treading on the floorboards softly so as not to wake his sister. The sun is taking its time to wake, and only semi-lucid light fills the courtyard. He pads around the kitchen gathering what he needs to make a pot of green tea. Their father had in them instilled the highest respect for tea, and as one of the few things the debt collectors could not take or sell, Shinpachi had held it ever closer to his heart until they were indistinguishable from one another.

As is habit, he steps into the courtyard. Over the hill the shadows crest, below his feet the earth is cold but far from barren. He extends one toe to touch the ground, and reminds himself that this land is the land of the samurai, and their family’s land. There is light in the darkest of places, and trusting that it will raise its head before long, Shinpachi hauls the cast iron teapot onto the brazier. He fills it halfway with water and sits back, waiting for it (and the day) to warm.

Although the Amanto have made their nest in Edo, the old ways coil and keep in the quietest of ways, in the smallest of rituals that Shinpachi withholds from their sight. He knows the motions by heart – take the teapot off brazier (as wiry as he is he can hold his own against an iron pot at least), measure out the tea leaves and place them into the kettle, leave to steep – to sleep –

As he waits, Shinpachi watches the light flush the scuffed corners of the dojo, and wishes that one day they will be scuffed by so many feet they’ll have to be replaced. He can think of no better tribute to his father than renewing the dojo piece by piece, to see a present rise from the past he left them.    

With impeccable timing he returns to the teapot and slowly pours a cup for himself. Shinpachi wraps his hands around the warmed ceramic, and allows the warmth to wrap around him in turn; he inhales the scent of the tea, grousing a little as his glasses fog up. Every time he knows it’ll happen, but he does it anyway.

He wanders outside and sits facing the sun. The smile that comes to his lips comes naturally. It’s true that he’d never had much to be happy about until meeting Gin-san and Kagura-chan, but before their spectacular, boisterous, nose-dive entry into his life he drew what he could from his routines and certainties – the sun, his sister, the heft of a sword in his hand.

Shinpachi sips the tea as he watches the light unfold, crisp and sharp like a golden piece of paper across the courtyard. He gives his thanks for the things that are the most taken for granted, and he will love them for their steadfast nature just as he loves Gin-san and Kagura-chan for the way they upend all laws, spoken and unspoken, to protect what they hold dear.

Shinpachi laughs lightly when his glasses fog up yet again. He takes them off and places them (very) carefully beside him on the warm wood. The light is brightening his vision, is flooding his eyes, and he raises a hand to rub them, his haori trailing across the steam beading on his nose. In a few hours he’ll be short-tempered and exasperated as his fellow Yorozuya run amok, but for now he breathes in the new day.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to take this moment and thank everyone for their kudos and comments; I know I've been terrible with getting back to people. Thank you so, so much, and please know that I cherish all your kind words. I'm definitely not done with Gintama, and there'll be more fic coming your way soon.


End file.
